~ Gita Journey is a straightforward, modern, contemporary, basic explanation and commentary of the Bhagawat Gita, with Sanskrit to English word meanings. Each shloka (verse) is explained in detail. An introduction to the Bhagavad Gita along with study resources can also be found here. A summary of each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is also included. It does not matter whether you are a student, a retiree, a professional, a mom, a dad or a housewife – no prior knowledge is needed.

If we recall, the first words uttered by Arjuna in the Gita were as follows : O achyuta, O infallible one, in preparation for combat, position my chariot between the two armies. Arjuna uses the same address, achyuta, the infallible one, in this shloka. So the conversation that was initiated by Arjuna is concluded here. Arjuna says that the ignorance of his true nature is no more, since he has regained his smritihi, his memory, the knowledge of his true self. When one comes to know about their true self, there is no more delusion in this world. Everything is seen for what it really is, an illusion, a superimposition by maaya on the self.

There is another significance of the word achyuta. While we forget our true nature, and erroneously take maaya to be real, Ishvara is always standing firm in his position as unaffected by the superimposition of maaya. Since he is infallible, only with his grace can we overcome our delusion and come out of the cycle of birth and death, of samsaara. Removal of delusion is the aim of all spiritual teaching, as we saw earlier. All that remains is to stand firm, to be stitaha, in the knowledge of our true self.

From the standpoint of the world, Arjuna was convinced that performing his duty as a warrior was the right decision to make at this point. Therefore, he acknowledged that the teaching of the Gita benefitted him, and that he was ready to fight in the war. From the highest standpoint of the absolute, Arjuna’s sense of agency, his sense of doership, had gone away, once he understood that the self can neither do anything, nor can it enjoy anything. He performed actions spontaneously, in the service of Ishvara. In the words of Shri Shankaraachaarya, he had achieved the ultimate goal of life. He did not have to accomplish anything else.

While Arjuna experienced a high degree of fear mixed with confusion in the first chapter, he now demonstrated tremendous gratitude and joy after knowing that the war had been pre-ordained in his favour. The fear had not subsided fully, that is why his voice was choked and his body was trembling. Since there was a bit of a gap between Shri Krishna proclamation and Arjuna’s next statement, Sanjaya stepped in to narrate this shloka.

Shri Shankaraachaarya in his commentary adds an extra dimension to Sanjaya’s interjection. Since Shri Krishna had already declared the upcoming death of the Kaurava army’s star warriors, Dhritraashtra could still have had one last opportunity to end the war at this very moment. Without saying it explicitly, Sanjaya asked: would he issue a command to stop the war now? He used the word “crown” to imply that Arjuna’s coronation as the crown prince of the kingdom was not too far away.

Unfortunately, Sanjaya’s plea fell on deaf ears. Dhritraashtra’s attachment to his sons was so great that even a revelation from Ishvara himself could not unsettle it. But even he knew that the fate of his sons was already sealed. The downward spiral caused by attachment has been illustrated with several examples in earlier chapters of the Gita. Perhaps this example of Dhritraashtra is one of the most hard hitting ones, since attachment to family is something that all of us identify with.

Let’s look at the character that is introduced in this verse – Duryodhana. Duryodhana was the son of Dhritrashtra, and leader of the Kaurava army in the Mahabharata war. He was a skilled and strong warrior, almost equal in prowess to Bhima, the strongest warrior in the Pandava army.

Since childhood, Duryodhana grew up with the idea that he was the rightful heir to the throne and not Yudhishtira, who was the eldest brother of the Pandavas. Going back to the theme of the previous verse which is that of attachment, he was extremely attached to the throne. But because he perceived the Pandavas as an obstacle to the throne, which was something that he was extremely attached to, he developed an aversion towards them.

Think of aversion or in other words, hatred, as the polar opposite of attachment. But interestingly enough, it is born out of attachment itself. For example, we saw that Mr. X from the last post was extremely attached to his car, and saw that someone had made a large dent in it. What feeling do you think Mr. X had for the person who caused that dent? That is aversion. Aversion is usually caused when we perceive a person, situation or object as an obstacle between us and the object of our attachment. And aversion, just like attachment, strengthens the ego. Examples are people (I hate my boss), objects (I hate my old TV), positions (I hate anyone who believes in communism) or situations (I hate my job).

Now, why did Duryodhana approach his teacher Drona? He saw the military formation of the Pandavas and began to get scared. As is the case, most people run to someone superior when they get scared, so he approached his teacher for counsel.

Drona was a teacher to both the Pandavas and Kauravas, and had equal affinity to both of them. And unlike some of the other senior warriors, Drona was not a blood relation to the Kauravas. Duryodhana also sensed that he needs to check in with Drona to understand his state of mind, because he needed Drona’s prowess to win this war.

There is an interesting leadership lesson here. If you are leading a team – in a business, political or any context – your success is not guaranteed unless everyone buys into a common vision that you as a leader have articulated.

Footnotes1. There is a redundancy here in the phrase “vachanambraveet”. Usually if you write “say”, most people know that you mean “say words”. But here the word “abraveet” is used in addition to “vachana”. This could mean that the words that Duryodhana is going to speak in the next verse are not ordinary words, they could perhaps be very negative or hurtful.2. Sanjay uses the word “raaja” or king when referring to Duryodhana. Perhaps he is hinting here that the root cause of this war is over the question of who the legitimate king is.